Descriptions

This thesis pursues a flexible understanding and definition of
dis/ability as a broadly and liberally applied mark of stigma. It asks
questions that develop a deeper understanding of how disability
influences mētis, a knowledge or cunning use of the body. Through this
framework of mētis, this thesis explores technologies as they promote or
hinder access into moments where knowledge (fleeting or kairotic by
nature) is developed in the academic learning process. How do bodies
shape who we are, where we learn, and how we use technology in these
spaces?
I begin with an exploration of how we use historical depictions of
the disabled mind-body to tell ourselves stories about how bodies can and
cannot function within a community, and how these stories perpetuate
into treatments of bodily difference today. Supported by the analysis and
scholarship of these portrayals of the disabled body, I then explore how
technology is continuing to change bodies and their access to moments of
learning in the classroom. Looking especially to a case study of one such
technology that supports accessibility for people with hearing difficulties,
TypeWell, I argue that the union of human and machine through
accommodative technologies is a new area for exploring how disability
and technology are changing writing and writing instruction today.